Taking A Look At The Very First Wargame Ever: ‘Tactics’
Wargaming is a massive beast, but that wasn’t always the case. Let’s see how wargaming moved from checkmate to the Devastation of Baal.
Okay, before we get started, I’m going to admit I kinda lied to get you here. The game of today’s discussion, Tactics, is not the first wargame ever. I’m sorry, friend. Please forgive me. But, it’s not a complete lie!
Prior to its release in 1954, there had been plenty of other wargames. Stratego was released in 1946, Little Wars was released in 1918 by H.G. Wells and Kriegspiel was created in 1824. Incidentally, Kriegspiel also introduced using the term “melee weapon” to refer to hand-to-hand combat weapons.
What made Tactics unique was two things:
- It was designed to be fully self-contained. Other wargames of the time required having your own miniatures and drawing your own maps and building your own terrain. Tactics provided both in luxurious cardboard.
- It was designed for the public. Kriegspiel, for example, was originally designed as more of a Wargames-type wargame, meant for military simulation and training.
So it may not have been the first wargame, it was undeniably the first board game wargame. So, let’s learn about Tactics!
A Little Bit of History
Charles Swann Roberts designed the Tactics wargame in 1953, and self-published the game the following year. If the name Charles Roberts doesn’t ring a bell, it should. He founded Avalon Hill Gaming Company, which went on to make a couple more more pretty big wargames.
When he originally released the game, he had an mail-order setup out of his home near Baltimore, Maryland. Over the next six years, he sold around 2,000 copies and only barely broke even.
The sequel creatively titled Tactics II, sold much better and had more refined rules. Still, in 1982, a 25th year anniversary edition was released to commemorate the game and its impact on the tabletop wargaming scene. Tactics II is mostly the same, and much easier to find. However, even Tactics II is very simple compared to the monster games we have today.
Gameplay of the Tactics Wargame
The Tactics wargame introduced many gameplay mechanics which became standard for the industry. Just to list a few:
- expanded upon the idea of different unit types, such as infantry versus armored units
- pioneered the concept of terrain types and movement costs
- the first to offer a wargame in a box
But there is one more thing. The thing on which all of the world of wargaming now lay. Without this, the entirety of wargaming would be in shambles. Players would be lost in a world of misty confusion. Die results would go aimless in the void. And rulebooks would contain nothing but words.
I speak of, of course, the almighty Combat Results Table!
That’s right, Tactics was the first wargame to introduce the idea of a ratio-based combat results table. And we all know how much Avalon Hill loves their charts and tables.
Each token used numbers and symbols to denote their capabilities (crazy, I know). The left number was the combat strength, and the right number is the movement capability. The symbol inside the square showed the unit type. X for infantry, the oval for armored and the I for headquarters. Each player has supply lines (denoted by the colored lines on the map), so long as a unit is on a supply line unbroken by an enemy unit, they function at full capability, but otherwise may become weakened.
Once a player has fully eliminated the other or controls all their cities for a full turn, they win the game!
Final Thoughts
Tactics is a very bare bones game. The rules for Tactics II are only 4 pages long, which has got to be an Avalon Hill record. Still, its impact on tabletop gaming and wargaming can not be understated. Beyond the obvious inclusion of the combat results table, it gave us the concept of a full wargame in a box, which hadn’t really existed prior to its release.
It’s a wonder that the Tactics wargame isn’t discussed more often, when it is really the grandfather of all wargaming. Tactics is so influential and core to the wargaming world, you already know all the rules to play it, I promise.
